Chapter 217: Origin Of Aptitude, Paying Respects To The True Martial Hall Lord
Listening to Ning Xuan explain in detail, Ning Qi slowly nodded.
To be honest.
The power of the Immortal Treasure was even greater than he had anticipated, whether it was containing Heaven and Earth as a mustard seed or shuttling through the Sea of Realms, or functions like size as desired and so on, all were extremely powerful.
But Ning Qi’s heart still had no great waves.
Because he knew that the current True Martial Hall was damaged, and many functions inevitably could not be used.
The issue he cared about most now was:
“What functions of the current True Martial Hall can still be used?”
Facing Ning Qi’s question, the newly born young Artifact Spirit seemed somewhat embarrassed, but still respectfully said:
“The main body of True Martial Hall is now damaged, and the stored energy is almost completely depleted, so many functions can only be used in damaged versions, or cannot be used at all.”
“In that battle back then, the internal Heaven and Earth of True Martial Hall was almost completely destroyed. Although it has been re-evolved now, not a single spiritual medicine or immortal medicine remains, only some spiritual beast eggs have hatched. With True Martial Hall’s current situation, using it as a storage Magic Treasure is completely no problem; it can easily hold an Immortal Mountain a million zhang tall, but containing Heaven and Earth is impossible.”
“And the function of shuttling through the Sea of Realms cannot be used at all, because this not only requires True Martial Hall to withstand the pressure during shuttling, but also has certain requirements for Fellow Daoist your Cultivation.”
“The remaining three functions can all be used, but their power is greatly reduced.”
Ning Qi nodded slightly.
This was within his expectations; the fact that so many functions could still be used was already beyond his anticipation.
However, he remembered the previous Artifact Spirit Elder’s instruction: unless absolutely necessary, never expose the existence of True Martial Hall.
Since that was the case.
Summoning it to fight enemies was absolutely impossible.
It could only be used in desperate situations to activate True Martial Hall’s power to temporarily shield the Martial World, which could buy some time.
“Is there any way to repair True Martial Hall?” Ning Qi asked.
Ning Xuan’s spirit shook, reciting them like treasures:
“Heavenly Profound Immortal Crystal, Five Elements Stone, Void Profound Spiritual Soil, Imperishable Azure Vine…”
One name after another made Ning Qi’s scalp tingle; he had never heard of any of them. They must all be Supreme Treasures in the Spirit Realm, and some might even only be born in the Sea of Realms.
“In addition, it must be refined with the Power of Rules.”
With that said.
Ning Xuan added:
“Only Void Dao Realm experts can preliminarily contact the Power of Rules.”
Ning Qi waved his hand wearily.
The Four Steps to Ascension had eight Realms, with Void Dao Realm being the fifth; such experts could already be called Great Powers in the Spirit Realm. Whether the Mountain Sea Realm Sect invading the Martial World had any Void Dao Realm experts was questionable.
“Forget it, forget it. Repairing True Martial Hall can be postponed.”
Ning Qi adjusted his mood.
“You just said that where we are now is the True Martial Hall Inner Hall, which can control changes in time flow rate?”
He felt some anticipation in his heart.
Ning Xuan smiled and nodded:
“Fellow Daoist, carefully sense with your Spiritual Sense, and you can control many functions yourself. My existence is merely to help you better control True Martial Hall.”
Ning Qi had a thought.
Numerous profound mysteries immediately surged into his mind.
In the next instant.
The original quiet chamber’s appearance immediately began to change, turning in the blink of an eye into something identical to the True Martial Mountain Seeker’s Courtyard.
“This appearance is more habitual.” Ning Qi laughed. This was a simple minor function attached to the Inner Hall, which could illusionize into myriad forms.
He sat cross-legged under the Enlightenment Tea Tree, beginning to experience the various functions of True Martial Hall.
“Within this Inner Hall, the time flow rate can be controlled to differ from the outside world. With my current mere Mana Realm Cultivation, it can fully reach a ratio of ten to one! That means, ten days inside is only one day outside!”
Ning Qi was somewhat shocked.
This was too powerful; it was equivalent to saving ten times the time.
“And this is still under the damaged state of True Martial Hall. At its peak, it could accelerate hundreds of times, even having some effect on Dao Integration Realm experts. As for now, due to the lack of Power of Rules, it can at most be useful for Nascent Soul True Monarchs.”
Even so, it still made Ning Qi exceptionally delighted.
With a thought, True Martial Hall’s power instantly empowered his body.
In that instant.
The wind and clouds shifted, and the leaves of the Enlightenment Tea Tree swayed with some magical glow.
Ning Qi clearly felt that his time flow rate differed from outside True Martial Hall. As the master of True Martial Hall now, he could perceive the outside world. He ‘saw’ Old Black Tortoise pacing back and forth at an extremely slow speed, like slow motion; the surging seawater also became gentle, the wind slowed, and the clouds barely moved.
But for Ning Qi himself, the speed of absorbing Spiritual Energy to cultivate Earth Qi showed no change at all.
“This is time acceleration? What a magical power.” Ning Qi couldn’t help but sigh.
In this way.
The time for him to break through to Five-Realm Martial Saint would be greatly shortened.
After cultivating for a moment, Ning Qi frowned; he discovered a problem.
He calmed his mind, carefully pondering the mysteries of the Five Elements Sword Formation. Streams of spiritual insight still continuously rose in his mind, but it was clearly somewhat worse than his peak state.
“What’s going on?”
Ning Qi carefully sensed.
Then he repeatedly entered and exited the time acceleration state to experience the difference.
After the time it takes to burn one incense stick, he finally reached a conclusion.
“My Comprehension is affected within a unit of time, but if extended to ten times the time, there is no difference at all compared to the outside world.”
“In other words, this time acceleration cannot affect my Comprehension.”
Ning Qi was somewhat disappointed.
In this case, the boost to him was not as great as imagined, after all, his entire Foundation came from his own Comprehension.
He roughly knew the reason; it was probably because his Comprehension had already reached the limit of his current life intensity. For others, there likely wouldn’t be this trouble.
With a light exhale, he adjusted his mindset.
Having it was still better than not having it.
Even if it didn’t amplify his Comprehension, using it for Cultivation was a solid tenfold acceleration, which could save him a lot of time.
“Moreover, this might not necessarily be a bad thing.” Ning Qi’s eyes flashed, “This precisely proves that the source of my Heaven-Defying Comprehension is far more powerful than this Immortal Treasure True Martial Hall!”
In a certain sense.
This was good news.
Ning Qi’s Comprehension would continue to rise with his Cultivation and life transitions; at least now, he couldn’t see the limit. This meant that, from the current information, even reaching the ‘Immortal’ Realm might not hit the upper limit.
Ning Qi stood up and stopped the time acceleration, as time acceleration also consumed energy.
He had sensed it clearly just now.
The energy remaining in True Martial Hall could at most support him using time acceleration for a few hundred years; the more people, the greater the consumption.
“Ning Xuan, take me to see the small Heaven and Earth inside True Martial Hall.”
As soon as the words fell.
The two appeared in a region brimming with vitality.
This entire Heaven and Earth was not much different from the Martial World before the Spiritual Energy Revival, but the difference was that there was not a trace of Human Race aura inside, only some beast creatures, though very few had developed wisdom—only the spiritual beasts hatched from some spiritual beast eggs left behind from back then.
“This Heaven and Earth was formed by True Martial Ancestor collecting a small world on the verge of destruction back then. At its peak, there were billions of beings of various races inside, and even many Heavenly Prides of True Martial Immortal Sect came from here.”
“Unfortunately, after that battle back then, True Martial Hall was damaged, and the Heaven and Earth inside was completely destroyed, with all beings dying in battle. This is now a new Heaven and Earth after re-evolution, far inferior to before.”
Ning Xuan explained. Although he had just been born, all of True Martial Hall’s knowledge was directly imprinted in his instincts, and the knowledge of previous Artifact Spirits also remained.
Ning Qi felt somewhat regretful.
Suddenly.
He thought of a question:
“Is there no Life Poison in the Spiritual Energy within this Heaven and Earth?”
Ning Xuan shook his head:
“Previously, True Martial Hall formed its own world, so naturally that was the case, but after that complete depletion back then, the current Spiritual Energy is all absorbed from the Martial World, so Life Poison naturally exists. If it were True Martial Hall at its peak, it could easily remove such Rule Poison, but now, it is temporarily powerless.”
Ning Qi was somewhat disappointed.
However, it wasn’t a big problem; the key issue now wasn’t Life Poison, unless it could remove all the Life Poison from the entire Martial World.
He sensed the various aspects within this Heaven and Earth, and his mood was still good; such a vast Heaven and Earth would have many uses in the future.
Whether migrating a batch of Human Race in or using it as a spiritual medicine cultivation base, it would work.
He didn’t immediately summon the spiritual beasts within this Heaven and Earth, but said to Ning Xuan:
“Let’s go, take me to the inheritance place left by True Martial Immortal Sect.”
Anticipation appeared in his eyes.
The two biggest gains this time.
First was True Martial Hall, second was the massive inheritance Foundation of True Martial Immortal Sect, from Houtian Realm to Dao Integration Realm, Immortal Dao Spells, countless Supernatural Powers, strange tales and records—not exaggerating, these things’ attraction to Ning Qi was even greater than True Martial Hall.
Combined with his Heaven-Defying Comprehension, if one day he could fully digest all these inheritances, it was hard to imagine how deep his Foundation would become.
Moreover.
It also contained the supreme Method ‘The World is Me’ mentioned by the previous Artifact Spirit Elder, which was what Ning Qi wanted to know most now; it might provide great help for the current situation.
“Yes.” Ning Xuan smiled.
The two stepped out.
Stars shifted.
Ning Qi was stunned to find himself in a starry sky; if this wasn’t the scene of the first trial, what was it?
Stars appeared in the starry sky, far more numerous than in the first trial, not even on the same order of magnitude. Each star recorded a Spell, Supernatural Power, or Secret Technique, or other secrets. Ning Qi was somewhat amazed:
“This is the Foundation of a Spirit Realm overlord?”
With a turn of his thoughts, he had already appeared at the deepest part of the starry sky. Here, a star of profound depth with restrained light slowly rotated; he could feel that no other star compared to this one.
Ning Qi sat cross-legged, unhesitatingly probing his Spiritual Sense into it.
Boom!
It was as if he heard an invisible booming sound, and massive information surged into Ning Qi’s mind.
“The World is Me, I am the World. Merge body with the World, transcend the limit, or become the supreme Great Dao!”
A voice like a great bell resounded.
Secret texts flowed by one after another.
This was the most complex Method Ning Qi had ever seen.
Involving all aspects: Spiritual Energy Origin, World Rules, Nascent Soul, Supernatural Powers…
With Ning Qi’s current Realm, many parts he couldn’t understand yet, because he hadn’t stepped into that stage, but he could grasp its uses.
Ning Qi carefully comprehended.
After a long time, he slowly opened his eyes.
“True Martial Ancestor, what great talent!”
He was somewhat amazed.
With his Comprehension, he had never praised anyone else like this; True Martial Ancestor was the first.
“Creating such a supreme Method, if he further perfects it, perhaps he really could find a new path in the Spirit Realm Contending for Immortality Epoch.”
Ning Qi had already understood the essence of this Method.
It was Body Merging with the World, fusing with the World Will as one, thereby achieving complete control over the world. Thereafter, the entire world became his Foundation; his Cultivation was the world’s Cultivation, gradually raising the world’s limit. Conversely, the world’s elevation was also his Cultivation elevation.
One could imagine how perverse this was: true invincibility at the same level, and even effortlessly slaying higher Realm Cultivators across levels. According to True Martial Ancestor’s conception, after Dao Integration Realm Body Merging with the World, he could even fight a True Immortal.
Even more extreme was that thereafter being one with the world, as long as the world didn’t perish, lifespan wouldn’t end.
This was far longer than the one Epoch lifespan of Dao Integration Realm; after all, though the Spirit Realm wasn’t eternal, existing for tens of thousands of Epochs was no issue, even longer.
The benefits during that time were truly too numerous.
This was absolutely a supreme Method.
Respect appeared in Ning Qi’s eyes.
“However, although the benefits are many, this Method is not without flaws.”
“The first problem is that it’s too difficult, too difficult. To achieve Body Merging with the World, one must have a certain compatibility with the world, in other words, sufficient comprehension of the World Origin. For the Spirit Realm, that means reaching a certain level with various Rules.”
“Dao Integration Realm Cultivators can only fully master one Rule of the Spirit Realm. To master more Rules—even without full mastery—would take an astronomical amount of time. No wonder True Martial Ancestor was in Closed-door Cultivation for hundreds of thousands of years without completing it.”
“To fuse with the Spirit Realm, it must be a Dao Integration Realm Cultivator.”
“But in my view, this Method is more suitable for fusing with a Small World!”
“Although Small Worlds have low starting points and incomplete Rules, correspondingly, reaching compatibility with the world is much easier. It doesn’t require mastering the Power of Rules, only comprehending the myriad Daos of the World Origin. For other Mana Realm Cultivators, this is even harder than Dao Integration Realm Cultivators mastering many Rules, but for me, it’s very easy to achieve!”
Ning Qi’s heart surged with excitement, feeling as if this Method was tailor-made for him.
Of course.
This was just a coincidence.
Ning Qi had even simplified a Method for fusing with Small Worlds from the one created by True Martial Ancestor.
The more he thought, the more feasible it seemed.
True Martial Ancestor had spent hundreds of thousands of years creating it from nothing, but he didn’t need to; the hardest process had already been completed by True Martial Ancestor. With his Comprehension, standing on True Martial Ancestor’s shoulders, he could easily simplify the corresponding Method.
“Fusing with the Martial World, this might be a path!”
“If I can fuse with the Martial World Will, my Strength will rise to an extremely powerful level. Even if more Mana Realm experts descend, it won’t matter. Even without using True Martial Hall’s power, I’ll have the capital to continue holding out, and then slowly seek opportunities to break free from the cage.”
Unprecedented hope surged in Ning Qi’s heart.
Difficult? For him, it simply wasn’t a flaw.
“However, there is a second problem: once Body Merging with the World, one is bound to the world thereafter—one prospers together, one perishes together. In other words, if the world is destroyed, I would fall with it; no chance to escape.”
“Moreover, one would be bound within the world, with greatly reduced freedom.”
“In addition, there is a third problem: using the world as Foundation, while gaining terrifying Foundation, also means future advancements will become extremely difficult. Cultivation is no longer just elevating oneself as before, but also requires elevating the world. For example, Purple Mansion Realm: normal Cultivators open the Purple Mansion within their dantian, but after Body Merging with the World, the entire world becomes your Purple Mansion—that’s a huge difference.”
Ning Qi frowned slightly.
These two flaws concerned him more.
He closed his eyes in meditation, streams of spiritual insight flooding his mind. Gradually, his brows relaxed.
“The second problem is easy to solve; I can further improve the Method. If fusion and unbinding can be done freely, there would be no issue.”
“As for the third problem, there is no detailed plan yet, but gathering the Power of All Beings, using their elevation to feedback into the world, might be a good direction.”
Ning Qi took a deep breath.
No matter what.
This ‘The World is Me’ Method was like timely rain; those flaws could be slowly resolved later. The most urgent now was still to face the crisis of the Mountain Sea Realm invasion; everything else could come later.
A smile appeared on Ning Qi’s lips, and he rarely stretched lazily:
“This harvest is truly bountiful. It’s time to go out and inform Old Black Tortoise Senior, lest he waits anxiously.”
He looked back at the inheritances contained in the starry sky.
He could look at them slowly later.
…
Within the grand hall.
Old Black Tortoise was extremely uneasy.
From the moment Ning Qi entered, the golden portal had shown no movement, leaving him completely unaware of the situation inside. In the past, when Martial World Martial Saints and Heavenly Prides came for the trial, the portal would react quickly, but now it was abnormal.
“Hope it’s a good result. With Young Ning’s talent and Comprehension, it shouldn’t be this fast; no reaction now is a good thing.” Old Black Tortoise comforted himself; his heart, unmoved for tens of thousands of years, was now slightly restless.
He was the Seed Inheritor selected by True Martial Hall, with some minor permissions for True Martial Hall, but now he couldn’t sense anything.
Unsure when.
Figures entered the hall one after another; they were spiritual beasts.
Pure White Crane, Blue-Eyed Golden Lion, Thunder Dragon, Spiritual Treasure Rat… There were no more than ten spiritual beasts, but their auras were all very powerful, reaching the level equivalent to Five-Realm Martial Saints. Their eyes were full of longing—that was longing for freedom.
Old Black Tortoise was the Seed Inheritor and could walk among people, but they could only act near True Martial Hall.
The Pure White Crane’s cold voice rang out:
“Turtle Boss, this kid… can he pass the trial?”
Expectant gazes looked over.
Hoping for an affirmative answer.
But Old Black Tortoise shook his head, saying solemnly:
“Wait patiently.”
As soon as the words fell.
The golden portal, silent for so long, finally blazed with light. All the spiritual beasts were startled and instinctively looked over, seeing a figure of transcendent poise slowly step out—who else but Ning Qi?
Old Black Tortoise was about to speak when he immediately sensed a certain Mark on Ning Qi. Incredible joy surged in his pupils, and his aged face trembled.
“I have not failed my mission…” Before Ning Qi finished speaking.
The group of spiritual beasts had already bowed together, their eyes fanatical and respectful:
“We pay respects to the True Martial Hall Master!
